Участник:"Hana One Q K League 1 2023,"
FC Seoul unintentionally held the casting board amid more attention to Final B (7th-12th place match) than any other season. This is because although it was unfortunate to advance to Final A (1st to 6th place match), it was confirmed to remain in the first division of the next season as it belonged to Final B.
K League 1 entered the final round of five games per team, starting with the Pohang-Incheon showdown on the 20th. Six teams, including Ulsan Hyundai, Pohang Steelers, Gwangju FC, Jeonbuk Hyundai, Daegu FC and Incheon United, which advanced to the Final A, will compete until early December for the championship and three tickets to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League.
At the same time, six Final B teams, FC Seoul, Daejeon Hana Citizen, Jeju United, Suwon FC, Gangwon FC, and Suwon Samsung, will fight for survival to avoid relegation.
However, the teams competing to stay in Final A are actually five teams, not six. This is because Seoul, ranked 7th, has no chance of playing in the promotion playoffs played by the 10th to 11th places as well as direct relegation given to the bottom even if it loses all of the remaining games.
Seoul, which competed for the top spot until the beginning of this season, has been in trouble since July. In the process, coach Ahn Ik-soo left and senior coach Kim Jin-kyu took over as acting coach. Before the match against Jeonbuk in the 33rd round, which was the last game just before the final round, he had a chance of reaching the semi-finals, but he went down to Final B as he lost 0-2
Currently, Seoul has 12 wins, 11 draws and 10 losses (47 points). Currently, Suwon Samsung, which has 25 points, is at the bottom, while Gangwon, ranked 11th, has 26 points. And Suwon FC is in 10th place with 31 points.
Since Seoul is 16 points ahead of 10th-ranked Suwon FC, there is a 0% chance that it will go down to the second division even if it loses all of it in Final B. No. 8 Daejeon (45 points) and No. 9 Jeju (35 points) have yet to confirm their remaining matches in the first division. Of course, Daejeon is expected to remain in the first division next season. Jeju could be caught up in a relegation battle.
As a result, it has become very important for teams that fight for relegation, especially Suwon, Gangwon, Suwon FC, and Jeju, how to win points by fighting Seoul. Conversely, depending on how Seoul composes its power and controls its condition in every Final B game, a somewhat interesting situation has unfolded in which the opposing team cries and smiles.
The table of matches is also strange. It will immediately face 11th-ranked Gangwon at home on the 22nd and fight 10th-ranked Suwon FC on the 29th. Then, they will play an away game against Jeju, which caught its breath during the FA Cup semi-final and final period and changed its coach due to the risk of relegation on November 11. It will rest for two weeks again with the A match break and have a Super Match home game against Suwon on November 25. In other words, the Super Match could control the fate of rival Suwon. It is highly likely that the away match of the final game of the season against Daejeon on December 2 will be played like a friendly match.
This season's Final B is expected to attract more than Final A attention than any other year due to the fall of the corporate team Jeju due to the possibility of direct relegation of Suwon, a traditional prestigious family, and the struggles of Gangwon and Suwon FC, which spend a lot of money on provincial teams. At the same time, Seoul's move, which is a confirmed team to remain, doubled the fun.